BladeMaster0182's page

I love the tweaks here and ultimately, getting alignment out of ancestry is good.

That said, will you be adding any language to localize statements about ancestries? Saying "Dwarves are family-oriented and have a strong sense of justice" is great to say about the Inner Sea dwarves but I don't think it's realistic to apply that to every dwarven culture in Golarion. To compare to Earth, I don't think there is any statement you could make about a culture that applies to every human culture except "They are social and like to eat and sleep."

Obviously if every dwarf worships their creator Torag, there would be some uniformity but an old faith like that would have many different sects.

Are your players having fun? Have there been complaints?

My players are having a blast but I am miserable. I like challenging my players, not handing them XP.

Hi folks,

I have run Kingmaker partway through twice now and honestly, it's getting to the point where I hate it (level 7-10, Chapter 3). The monsters just die. I feel like I'm just throwing slabs of XP at my players.

My party layout (since I know it will be asked) is:

Half-elf Wild Shadow Ranger (Archer): He does the most damage, getting around 40-60 damage each turn without moving. With Improved Precise Shot cover and concealment simply don't matter.

Aasimar Monk/Paladin/Champion of Irori: He's rather annoying to hit as the Crane Stlye feats allow him to ignore one strike and most creatures only get 2-3 if they get a full attack

Gunslinger/Holy Gun Paladin - New character but looking at her build? Death. Death everywhere.

Half-orc battle oracle: Surprisingly, not the biggest threat considering the archer kills the monsters long before his clunky ass can get near, but his buffing is rather potent.

Kitsune Summoner with a Large Bipedal Eidolon and flight: Yep. +9 Str mod and a buffing summoner with Haste. It tears apart monsters.

Here's the thing. The party layout doesn't REALLY matter. If I only allowed Core Rulebook items and nothing else, a druid, an archer, a barbarian and a cleric would yield nearly the same results (though Vordakai would actually be a challenge rather than the bullet/arrow-ridden corpse he will become).

My problems with Kingmaker are twofold:

1) One or two encounters a day. This is a near unavoidable part of Kingmaker as exploring a hex takes a day. You take a day, fight your random encounter and sleep. And what is a completely sensible thing to do before bed? Have the cleric/healer burn some cure spells before bed and get them back in the morning. Why wouldn't you? It's just good sense to keep your party hale and hearty. Hell they could also do it in the morning before prayers.

This means every fight the PCs are fully charged and healed (or almost). So unless that encounter is notably tough, you're in for a meat grinder. Any encounter in any adventure/dungeon is going to be easy when the players are fully charged up.

There simply are no endurance tests or dungeons. They fight an encounter and sleep because that's how the theme of the adventure is written.

2) Big slabs of meat, as I call it. Most encounters in the first three books are big dumb hunks of meat. Manticores, mastodons, hill giants, trolls, etc. There is usually one of them and in most fights 5 vs 1 favors the five. The issue is the encounters that AREN'T one encounter tend to be minions. Sometimes they're actually challenging (like the stone witches were b~$!%es) but in general, odds favor the numbers.

Not to mention with vast hill lands (hills dominate the Stolen Lands) archers have a field day.

So how can I get around this without completely changing the campaigns flavor and feel? I don't want to punish my players. I want to challenge them without throwing in some god awful monsters.

Every item that has a humble, simple, mundane, or nondescript apperance. Stop it. Just stop it. We get it. You were too lazy to think of an item description. Now just stop it.

So I just went through the Paths of Prestige and I have a player who wants to go Green Faith Acolyte. The class is a good one but she presented a valid question: What do the Archdruid and Great Druid abilities grant you?

RAW all you get is a fancy title after a contest of wills, some responsibilities and that's it. You technically also rule over an area of a great forest (or wilderness) or just a smaller wild area. That's it though. Nothing more or less.

I've looked through the Faction Guide and the Inner Sea World Guide and I get nothing. Help?

Announced for October! The cover image is a mockup, and will change prior to publication.

I must make my dhampir paladin survive for three more months. I must make my dhampir paladin survive for three more months. I must make my dhampir paladin survive for three more months. I must make my dhampir paladin survive for three more months. I must make my dhampir paladin survive for three more months. I must make my dhampir paladin survive for three more months. I must make my dhampir paladin survive for three more months.

So I just got the RotR Hardcover and so far I love it but I noticed a pretty confusing date error for those who are new to the series.

As most veterans of RotR know, the campaign starts on Rova 24th, 4707 AR. The Late Unpleasantness occurred five years ago (or 4702 AR). In the hardcover, this is confirmed in the Late Unpleasantness section of the Sandpoint section. However, in Chapter 1 (part 2) under the section 'The Missing Barmaid,' the book says Ameiko leaves to go adventuring in 4705 AR and returns a year later for her mother's funeral, but the mother died during the Late Unpleasantness. So unless Longjiku pulled the best 'Weekend at Bernie's' reenactment Golarion has ever seen, the mother would have died three years prior and the funeral would be held then.

Not trying to bust balls or anything, but even I was confused on reading those sections.

BladeMaster0182 wrote:

I'm playing a two-handed dhampir paladin in the Carrion Crown AP (gothic horror based campaign). My DM was nice enough to hand-wave the healed by negative energy, hurt by positive. Now I heal like anyone else.

Why do you play a dhampir if you don't want to play a dhampir?

Well I liked the flavor of a half-vampire paladin of the healing goddess, but I knew that practically I wasn't going to last long if I couldn't be healed by the party oracle or lay on hands. It was a flavor vs. crunch decision.

Another option instead of Undead Scourge is a regular paladin with Oath Against Undeath. Ghost Touch Aura is amazing, and Aura of Life will likely save someone's life, if not your own.

Is it worth giving up detect evil for? Because I love detect evil.

Thank you everyone for your help so far!

I've seen a lot of dhampir builds. What's the draw?

What do you mean by draw? Since I got the negative energy thing have-waved, the only drawbacks are the -2 to Con and no Str bonus, but like I said, I wasn't going for OP, I was going for story (Dhampir paladin of Sarenrae sounded fun)

Hi everyone,

I'm playing a two-handed dhampir paladin in the Carrion Crown AP (gothic horror based campaign). My DM was nice enough to hand-wave the healed by negative energy, hurt by positive. Now I heal like anyone else.

Problem is, I've never really PLAYED a THF for very long and I need help on what to take for feats and more.

Here's some background information: I'm currently a level 2 Undead Scourge Paladin wielding a greatsword. I have the Power Attack feat (since any melee fighter should have that). I see Istaban (my paladin) as an undead hunter. He absolutely hates the undead and wishes to see them laid to rest, either by their choice or his (he understands some undead are trapped, such as ghosts).

His stats are (with the rolled number in parentheses):

Str: 16 (16)
Dex: 12 (10)
Con: 14 (16)
Int: 12 (12)
Wis: 12 (12)
Cha: 16 (14)

I have his skills focused in Diplomacy, Knowledge (religion), and Sense Motive, with one rank in Heal to represent battlefield healing.

In our party we have a skill monkey rogue, healing oracle, sword and board fighter, and hexing/damaging witch.

As you might be able to tell, I'm not quite going for OP here, or I'd be a human or aasimar. I do want him to be effective in battle though which is why I need help.

I've also considered a few other options:

-Retconing as a archer paladin. I know from my experience as a DM, they are frighteningly good. However, I won't get precise shot until level 3 (and Divine Hunter removes aura of courage which is BAD in a horror-based campaign) and I want Aura of Courage and Divine Health ASAP, so multiclassing before that is unwise.
-Taking levels in ranger after level 5. I actually really like this idea. It will allow Istaban to focus more on the hunting aspect of undead hunter and the ranger levels will make up for a lot of the paladin's weaknesses (lack of skills, low reflex, etc), but it cuts down on my smiting power and lay on hands ability.

So here's what I need to know:

-What are good feats for a THF paladin and why are they good/how do I use them effectively.
-What are some good strategies for said paladin
-Should I be an archer paladin instead or take levels in Ranger (see my alternate options).

Thank you everyone for your help!

P.S. I have read both Cryptic's and Thallin's Guide to Paladins, but the don't address all of my concerns since I'm mostly ignorant to THF's.

Mr. Jacobs,

First off, I want to thank you and your team for doing the Reddit AMA. I loved reading it and I can't wait for the one for the Pathfinder artists.

My question is this: Your team has written a story for every Iconic expect one: Balazar. What's with the Summoner hate and can we expect to see his story sometime soon?

I felt there was a bit of grey area for the Change Shape ability so I made an addendum to it as well as made a few new related abilities my players wanted

Change Shape 6 RP: As written but with the following text: "The creature does not adjust its ability scores (although it gains any other abilities of the creature it mimics per alter self). This ability is at-will and the creature can remain in an alternate form indefinitely. This ability does not make the creature immune to polymorph abilities and if he is polymorphed against his will, he may not use this ability to change back. However, other shapechanging abilities, such as a druid's wild shape, function normally."

Beast Shape, Lesser 4 RP (or 6 RP, see text): You may transform into one Small or Medium animal as beast shape I (with the exception of being able to change into a tiny creature) but do not gain the size bonus to to your ability scores. For 6 RP, instead of 4 RP, you may gain the appropriate ability bonus. You may select one animal to change into at character creation. This cannot be changed afterwards. This ability is at-will and the creature can remain in the alternate form indefinitely. This ability does not make the creature immune to polymorph abilities and if he is polymorphed against his will, he may not use this ability to change back. However, other shapechanging abilities, such as a druid's wild shape, function normally.

Tiny Beast Shape, Lesser 6 RP: You may transform into one Tiny animal as beast shape I but do not gain the size bonus to to your ability scores (i.e +4 to Str or Dex). You may select one animal to change into at character creation. This cannot be changed afterwards. This ability is at-will and the creature can remain in the alternate form indefinitely. This ability does not make the creature immune to polymorph abilities and if he is polymorphed against his will, he may not use this ability to change back. However, other shapechanging abilities, such as a druid's wild shape, function normally.

I made my changes to Change Shape becaue i felt the wording was too broad and needed some balancing to make it more like the bestiary ability. Also, I felt handing a standard race creature a get-out-of-polymorph for free card was a bit much.

I put lesser in the last two because I figured an advanced creature might have a more powerful ability (such as being able to change into more than one creature, or having it treated as beast shape II)

The first ability came about because one of my players wanted to play a race of dogs who could turn into people, and the second because another player wants to play a tibbit at some point

Invisibility is range: personal or touch.

Yep just saw that. I = moron. Apparently HeroLab disagrees though. It's usually right though haha.

So I'm confused on something. Page 551 of the Core Rulebook (4th ed) says "Spells with a range of personal cannot be made into potions," but in the Nobles section of Chapter 8: NPC Gallery (p 288-289) has two NPCs with potions of invisibility. By the ruling I mentioned, invisibility (a personal range spell) cannot be made into potions, yet Paizo has them in the GMG. What gives?

So I am a DM who has introduced a handful utter noobs to Pathfinder and gotten them up to speed fairly quickly (at least on the basics).

Here's what I would want from a starter set.

3-4 basic classes: Fighter/Rogue/Oracle/Sorcerer. Normally people want the classic Cleric/Wizard but I am completely against that. As a DM I NEVER ever have a new player start with a preparation caster. As a new player, they are just trying to grasp the rules and in order to be a prep caster, you need to know the spells in order to know what are good ones to prep. Sorcerers and oracles have 3-4 spells that they use whenever. Its much simpler to manage.

As for races, I like the Human/Elf/Dwarf/Gnome idea with 1 - 2 racial features.

I think there should be about 2 pregen characters for each class. There should be blank character sheets for people who want to make their own (and advanced rules for making said characters,) but creating a character is a bit complex and they don't need to know how to make a character to play one. Optionally we could also use the Iconics as pre-mades for an extra personal touch.

Dice. Oh for the love of the gods have dice. It doesn't have to be fancy (but bonus points if they are) but you need dice. Every starter kit needs dice. There is nothing like a player's first set of dice.

Premade dungeon with a lot of DM advice. Make it a fun and simple dungeon (for both DM and players) with some variety (have monsters, traps, puzzles, etc) to give them a nice sample platter.

Flipmat or at the very least a paper battlemat. As a bonus you might on premade map tiles for the dungeons.

There should be limited rules, feats, and skills. There is no need to bog down a player on their first time. You always want to go light on the rules for new players. Let them experience the fun of Pathfinder before they get tangled up in the rules. Same thing with magical items.

The DMs should have a basic rule set (traps, some environmental hazards, poisons, afflictions, etc) but more importantly it needs to have some of the new DM advice from the Gamemastery Guide. I think that would be MUCH more useful than just the rules.

There should be a bestiary for all the monsters in the dungeons as well as anything fitting for a level 1-3 group as well as a few more powerful monsters as a teaser.

There should be an advanced section (stuff that isn't in the dungeon) for DMs and players. In there you can find things like weather effects, planar travel (as a teaser,) and for players a character creation section. However it needs more than the character creation guide in the Core Rulebook. Don't just tell them how to put stuff on a character sheet; show them how to make Rogar the exiled dwarven warrior. Show them how to flesh out their story. I know a good amount of players who know how to make a PC but not know how to make it a character. Making my character alive is the best part of character creation. Everything else is paperwork.

There should be a link to either the Official Paizo SRD or the player-made one: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/.

Minis would be a nice touch but not needed. I think there should be minis for the premades (or the Iconics,) but have paper tokens for the monsters. Throw in a few size templates for the larger creatures they might fight in the future.

Tokens - To be used as status markers, extra minis, etc.

Coupon for the Core Rulebook. This way when you get them addicted, they can get a book as a discounted price.

Zaister wrote:

All that unlimited cantrips requires is for the DM to change his/her tactics. The Game has changed. The DM has to change with it (or not, if you prefer to houserule).

Detect Magic (and Create Water) seem to cause most of the perceived problems. If your players are spamming detect magic, then incorporate detect magic INTO the trap as a trigger. When the emanation passes over the trigger, the trap activates. It won't take long for your players to realize that spamming det. magic can be a bad idea. Also don't forget that verbal components must be spoken in clear and strong voice. So, anyone (or any thing) within earshot is going to know that the heroes are on their way.

JJ is correct. Unlimited cantrips is absolutely not the 'game breaking' change that some seem to assume it is. It's just a change. Embrace it.

If anything, characters spamming cantrips opens up far more opportunities for the DM than it closes.

Well I think after reading all the feedback my issue was that for the create water, I trusted the table's dedicated math person too much. He was the one who INSISTED that it would work and since he was a chem major now computer science, I trusted his math skills. As for mending, that was pure DMing stupidity on my part. I should have read the spell closer.

Yeah... mending and create water aren't nearly the world-enders that overly-creative PCs might think they are.

Holy crap this thread got a LOT of responses. None of my threads get that much love. Well thanks for all the feedback. I need to keep this stuff in mind next time my players decide to get too creative.

EDIT: I especially thank James Jacob for taking time out of his busy day to post.

So I just finished running book 1 of Kingmaker and while a good time was had by all, there are some holes in the design of the campaign.

**SPOILER ALERTS**
If you haven't finished or played Book 1 of Kingmaker and want to HIT THE BACK BUTTON NOW.

No seriously....

No? Still here? Okay then.

There are two major areas in which there was a hole in the design of the campaign which would have allowed my players to exploit a cantrip to pretty much defeat a huge section of the book. I did not allow either of these because damn it, they were major plot points.

The first time was at the Old Sycamore. My players found the Old Sycamore and waited for the daytime (when the mites were sleeping). Then they decided that with a 3rd level druid and a cleric with CREATE WATER prepared that they would flood them out. Between the two of them they could make a gallon a second or 60 gallons in a minute, 1200 gallons in an hour. When the mites left the flooding hole they would be bottlenecked and would be killed one by one. Sadly I could not think of a reason why they realistically couldn't do this so I just had to DM Hammer the idea. Its not something I like doing (it was the first time I had to do it so blatantly) but I wasn't going to let them get all that XP for practically no work. So I gave them some bonus XP for creativity and sent them on their way.

The second part is with the Stag Lord. They saw the fortress and instead of trying to infiltrate themselves, they decide on a full on assault. Of course to do this they want a catapult and who happens to have a catapult that owes them a big favor and hates the Stag Lord. Why it's Olegg, the PCs main contact. What's that you say? Olegg's catapults are busted? But wait, doesn't the cleric have the MENDING cantrip? Why yes, yes she does.

So they fixed the catapult and brought it into the forest. I laughed and told them the catapult got stuck, because it isn't a forest meant for bringing siege weapons through. So what do my clever players do? Break the catapult up into pieces and carry it through the forest and use the MENDING cantrip on it when they arrive. Since I did not want my players to make easy work of the final fight due to an oversight by Paizo, I decided that the chances of my players bringing a catapult in pieces in their backpacks and reassembling said jigsaw without missing any crucial pieces would be slim.

So I rolled a percentile die, they lost and now they say I didn't let them bring the catapult. Of course if the die had rolled in their favor, then it would have been how brilliant they were. I swear, sometimes DMs don't get any love.

I had a player who did this and the answer is yes and yes. Archer paladins are sweet.

As for feats, look at an archery guide like this one: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/extras/community-creations/rogue-eidolon-s-lab/rogu e-eidolon-s-guide-to-fighters

It has all types of fighters but the archer is in there. You want the big ones like Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot (seriously if you don't take this archers everywhere will weep,) Rapid Shot, Deadly Aim, Manyshot (the last two stack,) etc. All of those are MUST HAVES to be a great archer.

Hi there,

I'm currently in the Kingmaker campaign and I'm playing a Half-Ogre (Tome of Secrets except the -2 Wis is a -2 Cha) barbarian and I am at a loss.

Current build

Retin Bullpuncher Lvl 3 barbarian
Str - 21
Dex - 14
Con - 18
Int - 5
Wis - 10
Cha - 5

Feat: Power Attack, Level 3 feat?
Skills: Intimidate 3 ranks, Handle Animal, Perception, Ride, and Acrobatics 1 rank
Drawback: Illiterate (using drawback rules from the Tome)
Weapon: Greataxe.
Armor: Mstwk Scale mail and Buckler
Rage Power: Superstitious

I have no idea what to do with this character. I basically want to rage and deal tons of damage. Retin is simple minded. He wants to do good but he is often confused as to how (We just had the "Don't kill sleeping bandits" speech ("But they're bad people! If they're dead, they can't be bad!"))

I have no idea what rage powers to take, if I should dip into fighter, or what feats I should take outside of Power Attack, Cleave, Dodge, Vital Strike, and maybe Intimidating Prowess.

Also if you have a better race/class that I can use (3.5 stuff is allowed) name it. I was thinking a goliath , if only for the stats and monstrous build.

Well as a necromancer Strength can probably be a dump stat (you have undead to do your lifting!) I don't know if I'd make it a full dump stat depending on how many touch spells you're gonna be using, but Weapon Finesse can help that.

Wisdom should be as high as you can get it. Make it a 18 if you can, if not a 16. Then Charisma needs to be up there as well (16 or a 15) to increase your save DC for turning. In fact, you make want to make a Bones Oracle instead of a dark cleric since Cha is their primary spellcasting stat.

Dex Con and Int should be at least a 12. If you're going to be making a good deal of touch attacks, make it a 14. So here's a preliminary build:

7 Str (-4) 12 Dex (2) 12 Con (2) 12 Int (2) 17 Wis (13) 14 Cha (5)

There are probably better point builds, but put your first ability bump into Wis and try to get a headband of Cha as soon as possible.

What type of characters are the other players playing?

No idea what everyone else is playing. The group has yet to reform but I know we're going to have a swashbuckler. We'll probably have a rogue and if I know one of the other players, a warlock or some other weird arcane hybrid.

As for cleric, Weather and Water domains sound interesting. I have to find another god then Gozreh though since we're using Greyhawk gods (since its a 3.5 campaign). I'm sure there is one.

Hey everyone,

I'm gonna be heading into a seafaring campaign soon (at level 7) and I am uncertain of what I want to do. I know I want to be a cleric or some kind of divine caster because of how awesome they can be but I'm uncertain of what kind. Clerics are so varied it is difficult to say. We're playing in a 3.5 adventure path (Savage Tiding) converted to Pathfinder. Here is what I've been thinking of (and feel free to add to this list!):

1) A cleric of Pelor with Sun/Healing domains to heal and buff. (there is some undead in the campaign and my group seems to get into fights a lot where we are carried through only by the grace of our healer).

2) A wave oracle (who thinks he is the avatar of the ocean)with Fluid Travel/Freezing Spells/Water Form and Tongues

3) A Battle oracle with Skill at arms/War Sight/Combat Healer and Cloud Vision.

4) A druid with the Weather Domain

Like I said, the group tends to end up in more trouble than not, so they need a strong support character. I've never tried my hand at a support character but I am in the mood to try it.

Thanks

So I've run into a snag with disintegrate: one of my players is an evocator and he loves disintegrate and has been using it to one shot some tough monsters. To top this, I let him have an item called hellcat gauntlets which deal 1d6 additional slashing damage per spell level on targeted spells 3/day. This was fine until disintegrate. The additional damage is negated if the spell does no damage, but disintegrate always does damage. So even if I make my save I'm still taking 11d6. Couple that with the fact I roll like crap (yesterday he did it, and my creature had a +18 to Fort. I rolled a 2 >.<)

Now I don't want to be the DM who purposely kills the character or magically destroys the item. I don't like to metagame and my creatures wouldn't know about the gauntlets or the potency of the caster until after he already disintegrates one of them. Usually by then, any attempt on the caster fails, because everyone else steps in and does their part. I want to make a challenging game for everyone and that is really hard when one player is practically one shotting the bad guys.

Now I've thought of two ways to start countering this. First is that I need to stop letting them rest whenever they want. Too often I hear "Lets rest" after maybe two battles, but there is nothing I can do to prevent them from sitting around in rope trick all day.

Also, mirror image would work well to counter it or anything that gives a miss chance. However not all things have this ability so I need advice. I appreciate any help and advice.

So I am loving the witch. It seemed like a very cool class and I can't wait for the finalized product. However I was discussing it with a friend and he brought up an interesting point: the name. Ever since the days of Shakespeare witches have been solely female. Male witches have been warlocks but alas there is already a warlock in Paizo's Tome of Secrets. So while some men, like myself, are perfectly willing to play the witch class as is and endure any ridicule other male players might throw at them, many will not.

While this is definitely an issue with our society, it is an issue none the less. So there are three ways of dealing with this issue: one, tell men to suck it up and don't play the class if they don't like the name (and miss out on its awesomeness,) two, have two names for the class, one masculine, one feminine, or three, change the name all together to something androgynous. Personally I am against number three. I think the name "Witch" perfectly sums up the class and should remain but I am curious to see what others think. Am I alone in thinking this might be a problem for male players? Or could it be an issue? After all, names are powerful things.